ABSTRACT
Who is your favorite celebrity? Why? What makes that celebrity special to you? And how do you know the things you know about him or her? Celebrities are an unavoidable part of everyday life in the 21st century. We are exposed to a seemingly endless stream of news about their lives, loves, good deeds, and bad behavior. Indeed, we may come to feel that we know these celebrities in a certain way, simply because of this onslaught of personal information. So, if we can know celebrities in this way, what kinds of relationships can we have with them? Our relationships with celebrities are idiosyncratic-they mirror but are not perfect copies of our other relationships. They are full of complex motivations, conflicts and rewards, and they are relationships in which some fans may be tempted to go to extremes.
